The $82 million redevelopment of the Fort-Shelby Hotel is steadily moving ahead, with design and interior demolition complete and interior structural renovation underway.
The building will be home to the 204-room
Fort Shelby Doubletree Guest Suites Detroit on the first ten floors of the
building, 67 luxury apartments on floors 11-22 and 38,000 square feet
of IACC-certified conference space. Ground floor retail will include a bar, a coffee shop and an upscale steakhouse,
Finn & Porter. It will be the fifth location of the national chain.
Work currently underway includes concrete and steel restoration, foundation work and the construction of new elevator pits. The building will be fully enclosed by mid-January.
Next up is the interior rough framing and HVAC, electrical and plumbing work. That work will wrap up at the end of May, which will give way to work beginning on interior finishes in June. Permanent windows are due to be installed in the spring. Project completion is estimated for fall of 2008.
The project is on schedule and at budget, according to Tom Simko, the vice-president of operations at
L.S. Brinker, the project's construction manager. "It appears that all parties are working well together," he says. "My perspective is that it is heading to be a successful project from a schedule and budget standpoint."
The building is owned by MCP Development, LLC. The architect of record is
Hobbs & Black with interior design by Portfolio and Assoc.
The project is being financed by
ShoreBank, HUD, a City of Detroit Section 108 loan, the General Retirement System of Greater Detroit, Federal and
State historic tax credits, Michigan single business tax credits and a
Federal historic conservation easement. Chevron is an executive partner on the development.
Sources: Emmett Moten, MCP and Tom Simko, L.S. Brinker
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh